MISSION

HISTORY

Lotus Outreach's mission is to ensure the education, health, and safety of at-risk women and children in the developing world.

Our purpose in pursuing this mission is to help create a more just, peaceful, and equitable world where all people - regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, and gender - can lead rich, meaningful lives that are free of physical and structural violence.

We pursue our mission with both passion and intelligence. Through a process involving extensive research, careful strategic planning, on-the-ground assessments of needs and opportunities, and relentless dialogue with our stakeholders and beneficiaries, we have developed a number of guiding principles which we believe sets us apart from other charitable organizations.

Lotus Outreach was founded in India as a secular organization, White Lotus Charitable Trust, in 1993 by Buddhist lama Khyentse Norbu to aid Tibetan refugees in Bir. Struck by the absence of media attention to the abject and widespread suffering of the local population, he expanded the mission of Lotus Outreach to serve the most neglected and forgotten peoples through education.

In 2002, Lotus Outreach was incorporated in California to create a U.S. center of infrastructure. Lotus Outreach affiliates are present in eight nations worldwide, and our all-volunteer international trustees have diverse backgrounds that span media, academia, human services and finance. Our staff draws on equally rich backgrounds, represents five nations, and enjoys a healthy and productive working rapport that bridges 14 time zones.